Thief of Time

“The corpse was trembling and everything?” Lily asked.

“Yeah,” Claud replied, leading her away from the weird boundary. “I don’t know what’s going on with the corpse, but…maybe it was finally allowed to die.”

“Finally allowed to die?” Lily asked. “That’s an awfully weird way to put it.”

“Well, it’s something I felt,” Claud replied. “I’m not sure, but it seems that the sword was preventing the Goddess of Hope from returning to nature entirely. Now that I removed it, she’s probably going to finally go in peace.”

“Go in peace, huh.” Lily looked down. “Well, one can only wonder what kind of grudge the Black God had with the Goddess of Hope to stop her from dying in peace. Either that, or he forgot about that sword entirely. More importantly, though, that sword seems like it can seal a soul or something, right? Might be useful.”

“Useful?”

“…Never mind.” Lily gazed at the sword. “Can I have it?”

“I took it for you,” Claud replied. “Along with all the armour. It’s not the right time to unveil them now, though. I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Alright.” Lily smiled at him. “So, this is how the Goddess of Hope died, huh. Did the Black God take his new role at the same time, in that very moment? Or was there something else? It’ll be nice to find out.”

“Definitely,” Claud replied. “I think there was a small window of time between the Goddess of Hope’s death and his ascension, in which time he should have found a better place to apotheosise in. We just need to look for that place.”

“Deeper, then.”

“Deeper.” Claud nodded. The only question was whether his suspected previous iteration was present when the Black God came into being or not, but even if his previous iteration really wasn’t here…what of it? Claud didn’t think he could interact with his past self this easily, not without the medium of the various Tutorials.

“Claud?” Lily tugged his sleeve. “You look a bit distracted.”

“I’m just thinking about the possibility of finding traces of myself,” Claud replied. “Which is more unlikely than me becoming a god right now, but still.”

“It’s that unlikely, so what are you worrying about?” Lily rolled her eyes. “Anyhow, let’s skirt around her final resting place.”

Claud nodded.

The two of them continued to venture deeper into the ancient battlefield. The two of them, with three ride-along meeplings, dived cautiously, skirting around wraiths and spectres of a bygone age. Claud didn’t know too much about these shades, save for the fact that killing them potentially yielded a prana jade. However, now that he found those little things a bit shifty, Claud couldn’t bring himself to even ingest a single one, despite the temptation of life that they held.

Prana jades were concentrated remnants of departed mana-users, which meant that they conferred varying amounts of lifeforce to anyone who consumed them. Generally, however, they provided more than a month’s worth of lifeforce, which lifestones gave, a quantity that would be lowered depending on purity and saturation.

In terms of pure efficiency, absorbing prana jades was far, far better. However, the cost was significant; these dense clumps of life was imbued with the remnant will and thoughts of its previous owner. Taking in one felt like polluting one’s mind and exposing it to undue risk, which was why neither Claud or Lily had used one just yet.

“We have enough lifestones for you.” Claud peeked at a patrolling spectre. “No need to go around for prana jades.”

“I know. You don’t need to explain why you aren’t doing anything, alright?” Lily rolled her eyes. “And let me support you properly.”

“…Okay.” Claud looked at the wide grin on her face. “You love it when you do this, right?”

“Hehe.” Lily stuck out her tongue. “And you love pampering me too, so I don’t see the problem. Just enjoy it. After all, you deserve all this.”

“I won’t hold back, then.”

Lily held him close as they snuck past another bunch of spectres. Before long, however, a surprising sight entered their eyes; there seemed to be a weird, artificial stone standing in the middle of nowhere.

“What is that?” Lily whispered. “A tombstone? Why would there be a tombstone here?”

Claud looked at the artificial construct, and then gestured at it. “Shall we?”

“I don’t see why not,” Lily replied.

The two of them drifted towards the tombstone, and Claud examined it carefully. The structure itself was a perfect rectangle, with the top end tapering off to form a pyramid of sorts. The whole thing was made in a eerie purple colour that, when placed next to Lily, made her even prettier, something that Claud had not thought was possible until today.

“There’s a plaque here,” Lily whispered. “Here lies the God of Earth…the God of Earth? Of the Primordial Pantheon?”

Claud found his thoughts whirling as an old tale, told by Colidra, echoed in his mind. The Moons and the Makers; the humans that would become the gods of the four elements; the First Godsfall as these humans stole the various sources of the elemental power…and the Second Godsfall, when the Six Gods of Virtue dethroned the Primordial Pantheon and assumed their roles as the new ruler.

“…Impossible.” Claud looked at the tombstone. “This ancient battlefield…it’s for the Goddess of Hope. Why is there a tombstone for the God of Earth here? Is this some sort of practical joke?”

He took a step back.

“Calm down. Why are you so agitated?” Lily asked.

“…Because, if this was true, this can only mean that there’s a high chance that this place was an ancient battlefield long before the Goddess of Hope fell here,” Claud replied. “Why, then, would a god and an aspiring divinity clash here, of all places?”

“The battlefield,” Lily replied.

Claud nodded. “So, ancient battlefields are good places to kill a god in.”

“There is definitely some irony when you say that with a very straight face, though.” Lily turned back to the tombstone. “I wonder who made this tombstone for the God of Earth. Not many people can get this far, after all.”

“Probably a priest that survived the First Godsfall.” Claud examined the foreign material. “I’ve never seen this kind of stone before. Do you know anything about it?”

“Believe it or not, but…I don’t actually know either.” Lily extended some mana to prod at the tombstone, and then nodded. “Impressive. I’ve never seen this stone before, and you have no idea how many stones the young lady of a noble family is expected to know.”

“Uhh…you’re skilled with stones?”

“Architecture!” Lily made a helpless smile. “Which age did a building come from? What style did it adopt? You know, all these superficial things. At least mineral and material identification is a bit more practical.”

“Is that how you got into bomb-making?” Claud asked, curious.

“Kinda. Some building materials, if modified in the right ways, could become highly explosive. And if their entire building foundation happened to be made from these materials, all that was needed was applying these chemicals to said foundation.”

Lily sounded a little sad, so Claud hugged her slowly.

“You feel like a pet cat trying to hug me,” Lily observed.

“Well, I’m not really exerting any physical strength right now,” Claud replied. “So, those stones…you don’t recognise them?”

“I’ve never seen them before,” Lily replied. “And as a rule of thumb, building materials don’t really shift too much over time. The knowledge to make this thing was probably lost in the Third Godsfall.”

“Makes sense.” Claud looked at the tombstone. “Still, there’s nothing that special about it. No weapons, armour or possessions of the person buried here.”

“You’re growing a bit addicted to robbing the dead?”

“No, not really.” Claud paused. “Just the corpses of those who are divinities.”

He paused. “That’s probably very risky behaviour.”

“I’m glad you realised that,” Lily replied. “Well, I don’t think this tombstone contains the God of Earth’s body, though, so let’s just call it a day and move on. No, I’m not cracking this open…don’t look at me like that!”

Claud, who was wondering if she had a few bombs or something, made a face. “Fine…I was wondering if your bombs would lose to this thing, though.”

“No, that’s not enough to goad me. Come on now. I don’t want to spend too much time in this place,” Lily replied. “Hurry along!”

“Got it, got it.” Claud, supported by Lily, continued deeper into the ancient battlefield. “Still, isn’t it weird that we didn’t come across anyone so far? I thought Norn said something about her party members being here or something. And the camp’s huge. I’d expected to meet a few people by now, but there’s no one…”

“I don’t think they ventured this deeply,” Lily replied. “None of them seem like hexa-folders, after all. They were probably all concentrated near the boundary, an area that we blew through quite easily.”

“Makes sense. But still…”

“Creepy, right?”

“Yeah. Really scary…”